The invention relates to post and beam furniture construction and more particularly to accessory positioning relative to post spacing and to accessory length and beam installation and removal without post movement.
Many modular work environment partition systems available in the marketplace offer many clever options for workplace landscape design, productivity enhancement, and the like. In using workplace panel systems, however, basic geometric or physical phenomena must be accommodated. One such occurrence has been referred to as “creep” and is basically a result of non-linear panel intersection such as making corners with panels. Intersecting panels at corners is common when a large room is partitioned into desired work areas or stations and is required by structural considerations.
Panels are three dimensional elements, having height, width, and thickness. As panels are joined edge to edge, a straight wall may be formed. The length of the formed wall is a result of the width of the panels times the number of panels used. Work enhancing accessories, including such items as various work surfaces, storage accessories, and lighting accessories, for example, are typically hung upon and supported by the partition system panels. A work surface accessory may further be any of a variety of surfaces, including bench, table, or desk surfaces. A storage accessory may include any of a number of storage accessories, including a shelf or a cabinet or the like. These accessories are typically provided in modular widths that correspond to the modular width of the partition wall panels.
When the distance of a panel thickness is added into or effectively removed from the length of a partition wall, however, shorter and longer width accessories are required to avoid arrangement conflicts. With reference to a schematic sketch of a prior art modular wall of FIG. 1, a series of wall panels “W” are interconnected to define work spaces and to support various accessory components “A.” As shown, a cross wall thickness may encroach into an accessory space and make the space too small for an accessory in what may be a negative creep at “NC.” Alternatively, the opposite situation of too much accessory space may occur with what may be a positive creep at “PC” and cause a gap between accessories, say a desk surface for example.
A common solution to these creeping partition wall issues is to provide accessories with differing widths, so a proper width accessory is available to accommodate various wall creep situations. This may increase the number of accessory items by as much as thirteen times, however, to provide accessories that are the same width as the panels, that are a panel thickness longer on the left end, that are a panel thickness longer on the right end, that are a panel thickness shorter on the left end, that are a panel thickness shorter on the right end, that are half a panel thickness longer on the left end, that are half a panel thickness longer on the right end, that are half a panel thickness shorter on the left end, that are half a panel thickness shorter on the right end, that are a panel thickness longer on both ends, that are a panel thickness shorter on both ends, that are half a panel thickness longer on both ends, and that are half a panel thickness shorter on both ends. This is clearly an onerous demand upon inventory and production.
Thus, one understands a desire for a workplace partitioning system that addresses the issue of creep, which is inherent in modular partition systems, and that addresses the associated inventory and production implications.